The Sinking City

Oakmont consists mostly of empty spaces, without much in the way of incident or spectacle

Unknowable gods who dwell in the deeps; strange dreams that bleed into reality; an accursed seaside New England town, the waves slowly eroding its sanity. There’s a whole lot of HP Lovecraft in The Sinking City, which gleefully mashes up elements from numerous short stories – the half-ape people of Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn And His Family bumping up against the Innsmouthers, whose ancestors are Deep Ones from beneath the ocean. But for each disparate element it pulls in, developer Frogwares is careful to get the details right.

“Bulgy, stary eyes that never seem to shut, and their skin ain’t quite right. Rough and scabby, and the sides of their necks are all shriveled or creased up,” is how Lovecraft described the ichthyic inhabitants of Innsmouth – words which Frogwares brings to life with startling clarity. In fact, this could describe most characters you meet, regardless of whether they have undersea ancients in their family tree. Characters’ eyes are too big, strangely watery or fogged over entirely. The skin is stretched a little too tight over their bones or shows hints of mange. It’s uncanny in a way that feels appropriate to the source material. The same goes for Oakmont, Massachusetts, the aquatically challenged town of the title. It’s a new creation but could easily, in all its dreariness, be Lovecraft’s Innsmouth. The trouble is that Lovecraft, among his many flaws – chiefly the racism which this game, to its credit, makes a point of denouncing – was not a very good level designer.